Pains

n.

1.

Labor; toilsome effort; care or trouble taken; - plural in form, but used with a singular or plural verb, commonly the former. And all my pains is sorted to no proof. - Shak. The pains they had taken was very great. - Clarendon. The labored earth your pains have sowed and tilled. - Dryden.

Noun

1.

pains - an effortful attempt to attain a goal Synonyms: nisus, striving, strain

assiduity, assiduousness, diligence, effort, elbow grease, endeavor, energy, exertion, hard pull, industriousness, industry, long pull, might and main, muscle, nerve and sinew, painstaking, painstakingness, sedulousness, thoroughgoingness, thoroughness, trouble